Infinite dragonflight
}} The Infinite Dragonflight is the meddlesome force behind the attempts to alter history within the Caverns of Time. Description All castes of this dragonflight, from whelp to dragonspawn to fully grown dragon, have been encountered. Their color range varies from black to dark gray/gunmetal, with an oddly cracked and deteriorating appearance. They are covered with tiny black residual particles and a strange blue light glows through the cracks. Appearing in three of the four Caverns of Time instances, they are attempting to prevent crucial events in Azeroth's history from occurring. In Escape from Durnholde Keep, they interrupt Thrall's escape by kidnapping Taretha. In Opening the Dark Portal, they attempt to prevent Medivh from opening the portal. In the Culling of Stratholme, they try to hide the evidence Arthas uses to rationalize and support his order to purge Stratholme. The nature and purpose of the Infinite Dragonflight are unknown, but comments made by Epoch Hunter do reveal that they serve a single master. In Burning Crusade The Infinite Dragonflight under the command of Murozond appear in three of the four Caverns of Time instances and are attempting to prevent crucial events in Azeroth's history from occurring. In Escape from Durnholde Keep, they interrupt Thrall's escape by kidnapping Taretha. If Thrall had never escaped from Durnholde, Thrall would never have rebuilt the Horde or freed his people from the internment camps. And so Thrall would not have been able to bring aid against the Burning Legion when the demons came. Azeroth could have been destroyed. In Opening the Dark Portal, they attempt to prevent Medivh from opening the portal. In Wrath of the Lich King In Wrath of the Lich King, Chromie sends players to the Bronze Dragonshrine to divine the true identity of the leader of the Infinite Dragonflight. While there, players can see both the Infinite and Bronze dragons fighting "through time" attempting to gain/maintain control of the shrine. The Infinite Dragonflight also appears during the Culling of Stratholme in an attempt to disrupt the timeline by preventing Arthas Menethil from purging the city. In Cataclysm Occulus, one of the bronze drakes guarding the entry of the Caverns of Time, has been corrupted and transformed into an infinite drake. In "Thrall: Twilight Of The Aspects" It is revealed by Nozdormu to Thrall and the other Dragon Aspects, that he is, indeed, the leader of the infinite dragonflight from a possibly altered timeline and that his absence for a considerable amount of time was due to the investigation of his transformation causing him to become lost in the timelines and unable to return to the present moment. In the End Time instance, it is explained that in a future Azeroth, the Old Gods tempted Nozdormu into finding a way to subvert his mortality, corrupting himself into and his dragonflight into the Infinite Dragonflight. In his madness, Murozond attempted to destroy time itself in order to avoid his own death, but was defeated by his past self with the help of a group of adventurers. Even so, Nozdormu warned the adventurers that he was nonetheless destined to fall into madness and become Murozond one day. Known members Speculation Nozdormu's Involvement With the addition of the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion, a new quest called is available in the Dragonblight. On this mission, Chromie sends the player to the Bronze Dragonshrine to divine the identity of the true leader of the Infinite Dragonflight. At the end of the quest, the player sees the long-missing Nozdormu, leader of the Bronze Dragonflight. Chromie states that this makes no sense, then brushes it off and says that she is glad that Nozdormu is alive and well. She adds that he had left without telling the rest of the flight "where or when" he was going. Considering the fact that Nozdormu seems to have been absent since the trouble with the Infinite Dragonflight began, and also assuming that Chromie's divining process worked, then the leader of the Infinite Dragonflight may in fact be Nozdormu. This is further supported by the statements of regret that Nozdormu makes during the War of the Ancients. He apologizes to Korialstrasz for actions he would commit against him in the future and says that not even he can change his ultimate "fate". At the time, this was assumed to be his death. However, in light of the Mystery of the Infinite quest, it is very likely that the fate he was referring to was his role as the leader of the Infinite Dragonflight. This broaches the possibility that Infinite Dragons are actually former Bronze dragons, perhaps from the future. This is indicated further, by the fact that upon entering the Mount Hyjal instance, Indormi says, "Do you think the rumors about the Infinite Dragonflight are true? I've sensed it...the familiarity." This suspicion is pushed into the realm of fact in that, during the Caverns of Time: Culling of Stratholme instance, players are afforded the chance to see the Infinite Corruptor transform a Bronze dragonspawn into an Infinite one, by failing to meet the time requirement to save him from this fate. This suggests that the Bronze dragons are actually past versions of their Infinite counterparts. What's more, it seems that the bronze dragons are beginning to suspect this relation. It is possible that the members of this dragonflight are Bronze dragons that decided to improve on the future. But this does not explain why they are black, although magic could have mutated them. Furthermore, it is stated that if the Infinite Dragonflight is successful in altering time, the past, present and future will (would?) collapse. If the Infinite Dragonflight are future versions of the Bronze, they should be aware of this as well. Additional circumstantial evidence for this theory: For one, there are no other entities known in Azeroth that have such strong and readily used powers over time, apart from the Bronze and Infinite dragonflights, which suggests that they are connected. For another, if the Bronze Dragonflight, at any point in the thousands of years of its existence, were to become corrupted or enslaved, the effects would be seen throughout time. As nearly every other long-lasting entity or organization in Azeroth has at some point been manipulated by the Burning Legion or the Old Gods, it's likely that the Bronze Dragonflight will encounter similar corruption at some point. The Infinite dragons also seem to have motives other than the initial dangerous disruption of the time-stream implied by the Bronze dragons. In the Caverns of Time, the Infinite dragons are involved in three out of four of the instances. In each of the cases of their involvement it can be argued that by changing events that occurred, they are in fact improving the future for the better, such as stopping Medivh from opening the Dark Portal which allowed demons entry to Azeroth, as well as preventing the actions leading up to Prince Arthas becoming the Lich King. Involvement in the case of Thrall's Escape from Durnholde Keep are questionable. Some would argue that preventing Thrall from becoming warchief of the Horde would allow the Horde to continue down its old and dark ways, however others would argue that by preventing Thrall from changing the then-broken Old Horde into the stronger New Horde, the renewed conflict between the Horde and the Alliance would not have occurred, or would otherwise be less severe. In the case of the Battle for Mount Hyjal, it is noted that there is no involvement by the Infinite Dragonflight at all, which implies either that they have a hidden role in the conflict or that they consider involvement of the players to have the best possible outcome and do not interfere with their actions. It should however be noted that the battle in WoW is different from that of WCIII in many ways. It is equally possible that Nozdormu is trying to avoid his death, as he knows when and how it will happen, but as it is unavoidable, he inadvertently causes it. Returning to the future theory, perhaps a future form of Nozdormu causes a corruption in the Bronze Dragonflight, that turns current Nozdormu to get corrupted into future Nozdormu, which, as a keeper of time, he is then forced to uphold this infinite loop(explaining the name?) and the infinite dragonflight is then born. As the dragons of this dragonflight are loyal to Current Nozdormu, the infinite dragonflight seen at the Old Hillsbrad, the dark portal, and other COT raids are trying to stop Nozdormu's corruption, inadvertently causing more trouble than they wish to avoid. In Cataclysm Patch 4.3.0, a dungeon called End Time will be made available. The final boss of this instance appears to be a huge, infinite dragon called Murozond, who is described as having the power to block Nozdormu's sight of time and the ability to create a new and infinite dragonflight 1. It appears as if this dragon leads the infinite dragonflight, though this hasn't been confirmed yet. However,'Murozond' is an anagram of 'Nozdormu', strongly suggesting that they are two versions of the same being, albeit from different time periods. Miscellaneous theories *Some have speculated Deathwing's involvement in this new flight. Lady Sinestra in Shadowmoon Valley refers to "The Master" being alive and wanting to continue the experiments of Nefarian. We can infer that The Master is Neltharion and that he wishes to continue Nefarian's experiments where he left off. It should be noted as well that Nefarian was working with the Chromatic dragonflight, not the Infinite. However, Neltharion seemingly abandoned the Chromatic flight and created the Twilight dragonflight. He may have created other dragonflights as well... or he will in time. *Others have hypothesized the far-future involvement of the orphan blood elf Salandria and draenei orphan Dornaa. During the first TBC Children's Week event in 2007, players were able to adopt either Salandria or Dornaa (according to their faction) in Shattrath City. One of the places each child wished to see was the Caverns of Time, in the quest Time to Visit the Caverns ( , ), where the guards of the Bronze Dragonflight attempted to attack them. The Bronze dragon in the center of the room stopped them, saying they "will not be held accountable" for future actions not yet committed. Upon completing the quest, Dornaa joyfully wished to be friends with a dragon, while Salandria said she planned to own one. *Assuming he is the leader of the Infinite Dragonflight it may be possible that Nozdormu, knowing when he is slated to die, may be attempting to alter history in various ways to prevent his death. What these three events in particular may have to do with preventing it is an unknown at this time. An unfortunate but possible result of this meddling could be a commonality in time travel stories where someone trying to prevent an event from happening eventually causes it in the end after all. Another possible theory about the "Master" is that the Infinite Dragonflight served another master that was somehow destroyed and Nozdormu took his place. It is possible that they were once evil but then turned good if Nozdormu really is their master. This would explain why they seem to fight to change events that would benefit Azeroth but seem to do it through forceful and dark ways. It is also possible that if Nozdormu is leading the Infinite Dragonflight, the attacks on time are done to ensure the players' involvement. For example, one can question if Thrall would really ever have escaped if the players hadn't become involved. The "clean" version of history that the Bronze Dragonflight enforces may simply be the textbook version to prevent various involvements of time travel from being notable. *It is also possible that Nozdormu, being able to see his eventual death, is using the infinite dragonflight to cause these issues in the caverns of time, but purposefully making them achievable in order to draw players along a path which would end in Nozdormu's own death. Nozdormu may also be using the infinite dragonflight to draw players towards him in order to then be able to focus them on another more destructive power. *The World of Warcraft history site states that during the titans' creation "...there were many Dragonflights." This makes it a possibility, however faint, that the Infinite Dragonflight was always there. *The fact that the alterations in the time line that the Infinite Dragonflight tried to bring about would have ultimately benefitted the Burning Legion suggests that the infinite dragons may be acting on the Legion's behalf. By preventing Thrall's escape, the dragons would have prevented him from uniting the Orcs and convincing them to re-embrace shamanism. As a result, the Orcs would have continued to worship demons. And when the Legion invaded, the Orcs would not only have refused to fight alongside the Alliance against them, but would have likely pledged their allegiance to the Legion. By stopping Medivh from opening the Dark Portal, they would have ensured that the Alliance never formed and that the kingdoms that composed it would have instead erupted into war. In this case, the Legion would be facing a severely weakened Azeroth which would have stood no chance against them. By killing Arthas in Stratholme, they would have ensured that he never arrived in Felwood to inform Illidan Stormrage about The Skull of Gul'dan. Without the skull's power, Illidan and his forces would have most likely been defeated. As a result, the Legion would have maintained their foothold in Felwood, Tichondrius would have survived the battle, and they would have maintained possession of the skull. This could have given the Legion a large enough advantage to ultimately win the war. Also, if Artas died in Stratholme, Kel'thuzad would have stayed dead and he wouldn't have summoned Archimonde. At the Battle of Mount Hyjal, the Alliance, Horde, and Night Elven forces required assistance from players to achieve victory over the Legion. However, in the original time line, they had managed to defeat the Legion on their own. This suggests that the overall troop strength of the Legion had been increased, most likely thanks to the Infinite Dragonflight. *Many people believe that the dragonflight is a force of good. If they had stopped Medivh from opening the Dark Portal, the Legion would have not invaded the Azeroth using demonized orcs. This would have allowed the humans, dwarves, and high elves alliance to band together and destroy the shattered remains of the Legion in the Eastern Kingdoms. Also the high elves' runestone at Caer Darrow would not have corrupted so they would have not broken away from the humans, allowing them to call for their help years later, during the Scourge attack on Quel'Thalas; the extra forces would probably have been enough to defeat the Scourge and high elves would had never turned into blood elves. This theory is suggested by Chrono-Lord Deja's comment during the opening of the Dark Portal: "Why do you aid the Magus? Just think of how many lives could be saved if the portal is never opened, if the resulting wars could be erased..." This suggests the Infinite Dragonflight wants people to survive. By stopping Thrall from escaping from Durnholde Keep, the Horde would never have formed and the Alliance could focus the attention on the orcs and defeat them without wasting resources to fight the Horde. If they had killed Arthas during The Culling, he would have never become the Lich King. This would have allowed Illidan to destroy Ner'zhul and the Scourge would be destroyed by the armies of the humans, dwarves, and high elves. The fact that Infinite Dragonflight wants mortals to survive is also suggested during the culling with Chrono-Lord Epoch's comment to Arthas, "the deaths you are destined to cause will this day be your own", suggesting the Infinite Dragonflight does not like death of innocent people, assuming his comments are truthful. In lore , it's said that the forces of the Horde, Alliance, and night elves could defeat the Burning Legion without any help, but according to the theory of time travel, the adventurers that went back were actually the forces of the Alliance and Horde. *When you encounter Aeonus in Black Morass, he says "Your time is up, slave of the past!" when he despawns a Time Keeper. This makes stronger the speculation that Bronze Dragonflight is actually past version of Infinite Dragonflight. *Knowing about his eventual death, these events may be tests, set up by Nozdormu to train and mold heroes to one day take his place in maintaining the timelines, the wish that the tests be passed also explains why a benevolent Dragon would set in motion potentially destructive events. References de:Ewiger Schwarm es:Vuelo Infinito fr:Vol infini pl:Infinite dragonflight Category:Infinite Dragonflight